The Occultist

There is something that really irks me when a horror game doesn't provide any scares or tension. The Occultist looked like it was going to be an entertaining experience, but it doesn't provide much entertainment. The puzzle-solving and exploration are passable, but everything else is a huge letdown.

70%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

stability, grinding

73% User Score Based on 120 reviews

Critic Score 60%Based on 2 reviews

Platforms

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About

The Occultist is a single player survival action adventure game with horror and mystery themes. It was developed by DALOAR and was released on April 8, 2026. It received neutral reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from players.

The Deluxe Edition of The Occultist contains: -The Occultist game -The game's complete Soundtrack -The Occultist Artbook with over 200 pages of behind-the-scenes material

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73%Audience ScoreBased on 120 reviews

story37 positive mentions

stability5 negative mentions

Impressive and atmospheric visuals with beautifully crafted, diverse locations and excellent lighting and effects.
Engaging and satisfying puzzles that balance challenge and accessibility well.
Strong sound design and music that effectively contribute to the mood, complemented by mostly solid voice acting.

Technical performance issues and optimization problems leading to crashes and high resource use on some systems.
Weak and inconsistent story and character development, including unrelatable characters and a generic plot.
Clunky gameplay mechanics, notably in combat/boss fights and pendulum powers, with some game-breaking bugs and missing features like chapter select or manual saves.

story
87 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
52%
5%
The story received mixed reviews, with some players praising its atmosphere, originality, and integration of unique mechanics, while others found it generic, confusing, or poorly executed. It is often highlighted for its eerie setting, engaging mystery, and emotional depth, but criticized for pacing issues, lack of player investment, and clichéd horror tropes. Overall, the narrative is appreciated by fans of atmospheric horror but may feel unmemorable or muddled to others.
- “The story is compelling and engaging, with good tension and some jump scares.”
- “At the center of this game is the story, which gets told in a fascinating way.”
- “The developers clearly put time and effort into the story and the systems.”
- “The developers clearly put time and effort into the story and the systems, but the environments looked great, yet it felt like each environment was worked on by a different team then duct taped together with a half-thought-out story.”
- “For an atmospheric horror, story is a huge part and they obviously had an idea but it wasn't fleshed out and ended up just repeating itself over and over.”
- “The story/mystery aspect could have been forgiven if the gameplay had been fun but again, the ideas just weren't fleshed out.”
gameplay
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
65%
5%
The gameplay centers on exploration and puzzle-solving using an occult pendulum with various abilities, but many mechanics feel underutilized or inconsistent, and the puzzles, while balanced and atmospheric, can be repetitive and sometimes tedious. Although the story and environment are engaging, the linear progression, limited replayability, and occasional clunky controls detract from a fully satisfying experience. Overall, gameplay appeals more to fans of investigative, non-combat horror experiences rather than action-oriented players.
- “The character and level design were detailed and the puzzles were balanced with an interesting mechanic.”
- “The gameplay mostly consists of solving puzzles and exploring the environment; you have 4 pendulum powers, 3 of which you will unlock throughout the story: otherworldly vision, time reverse, raven companion, and rat pipe. These mechanics are mostly evenly spread throughout the game, except for the last one which is only used 3 times and unlocked before the final level.”
- “It harmoniously blends everything that makes a horror movie interesting with the mechanics of a great investigation game.”
- “It's not always clear what you should use, especially the time rewinding mechanic, and it only works on specific spots the developers have marked, which renders the use of this power fairly inconsistent.”
- “A rack has fallen on its side and now it’s an untraversable obstacle; some fence rose up from the ground and you have to solve the puzzle to make it go away though it is barely a meter high and the protagonist could easily vault over it; there are aggressive rats running on the floor of a dining room and the protagonist has to run away instead of climbing onto a table; there is an open window leading to a locked room which the protagonist can easily fit through but no – look for another way in. Of course, the developers have to limit the player’s area of exploration but when idiotic moments like these happen over and over again, it simply breaks the immersion.”
- “The game is pure letdown from mechanics which are as basic as you can get, to puzzles which repeat and use names or codes that take ages to type in.”
atmosphere
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
32%
7%
The game delivers a generally strong and immersive atmosphere, praised for its detailed environments, excellent lighting, sound design, and gothic horror vibes, often evoking tension and dread. However, some segments suffer from inconsistency, with occasional overuse of visual effects, kitschy moments, or weak narrative integration that undermine the mood. Overall, the atmosphere is a highlight for many players, contributing significantly to the horror experience despite a few pacing and tonal issues.
- “It builds a nice horror atmosphere with its beautifully crafted locations that don't feel repetitive.”
- “The atmosphere is incredible, the color and light usage sets a very strong moody and oppressive atmosphere.”
- “I always felt on edge due to the game's impeccable soundtrack and atmospheric sound design, the mechanics were incredible and the whole environment was absolutely stunning and beautiful.”
- “The game trailer lies when it says you have to use the pendulum to see ghosts – you can see them easily with regular vision, which breaks the atmosphere even further.”
- “Because of ludonarrative dissonance, the atmosphere is basically non-existent.”
- “The atmosphere is hit-or-miss: some segments are effective, while others feel so kitschy they become unintentionally funny rather than scary.”
graphics
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
29%
9%
The graphics in this game are widely praised for their beautiful, atmospheric visuals, excellent lighting, and detailed art style, often described as a showcase of polished, gothic horror artwork. While some visual effects like exaggerated bloom may occasionally feel overdone, the overall design and RTX-enabled rendering create an immersive and mood-rich experience. Despite its short length, the game’s graphics stand out as a primary strength, drawing players into its haunting environments.
- “This is a masterpiece of RTX-enabled graphics, where designers truly know what they're doing and how to use the graphics effectively.”
- “Fantastic game - this team just instantly draws you in with stunning visuals and lots of great atmosphere.”
- “Daloar, the studio behind The Occultist, describe themselves as 'a Spanish team of 32 dedicated gamedev professionals with deep roots in computer graphics,' and that seems accurate because the graphics are clearly the most polished aspect of this game.”
- “The game's visuals are sometimes sluggishly executed with exaggerated bloom and depth of field, trying too hard to set the mood. Other times, especially in interiors, it combines nice compositions and excellent lighting and smoke/fog effects to create a nice atmosphere.”
- “Even running this game with low graphics and above the minimum system requirements had my GPU running at 95% just from starting it up.”
- “Neither did the developers need to clumsily photoshop their faces over classical artwork and then plaster a whole mansion with it, but there they are.”
music
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
24%
14%
The music in the game is consistently praised for its atmospheric, fitting, and mood-enhancing qualities, often described as amazing or excellent. It effectively complements the story and gameplay, creating tension and a memorable experience, with sound design and voice acting also contributing positively. Overall, the soundtrack is a standout element that significantly elevates the game's immersive atmosphere.
- “I always felt on edge due to the game's impeccable soundtrack and atmospheric sound design; the mechanics were incredible and the whole environment was absolutely stunning and beautiful.”
- “Both the voice acting and the music are absolutely spectacular, which only elevates the final experience.”
- “Mysterious game, beautiful art and atmosphere, amazing sound and music, really enjoyable gameplay and story.”
- “The music is fine; however, I did not really remember any of the compositions except the main theme.”
- “The sound design is okay, with mostly solid voice acting, but the music is only fitting rather than memorable.”
- “While the music accompanies the adventure adequately, it lacks standout or memorable tracks beyond the main theme.”
optimization
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
23%
33%
The game's optimization is mixed, with generally good performance achievable after tweaking settings, but issues like high CPU temperatures, occasional random stuttering, image lag during interface use and camera movements indicate it isn't fully optimized yet. Adjusting graphics settings helps maintain smooth gameplay, though some performance hiccups persist.
- “Performance was good without any issues from start to finish.”
- “Performance was good though I tuned my settings a bit, and I had to adjust camera settings at the start to avoid motion sickness and eye strain issues.”
- “Optimization issues but I was still able to play through at max settings without DLSS since combat isn't a huge factor.”
- “The game also needs serious optimization; my i7-12700f hit 94°C during certain cutscenes, which is ridiculous.”
- “The random stuttering that happens for no reason.”
- “As for performance, I had it at the highest settings and it chugged a bit; I reduced it down to medium and it was completely smooth.”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
88%
13%
The humor is a mixed bag, featuring amusing easter eggs and goofy ghost animations that occasionally provoke laughter, but overall is undermined by the protagonist’s forced, unfunny quips and inconsistent voice acting. The tone wavers between genuinely spooky and unintentionally kitschy, resulting in humor that often falls flat rather than landing effectively.
- “One jumpscare actually got me, but the rest felt cheap, some were even so goofy they made me laugh.”
- “Perhaps I'm just a desensitized broken man, but some of the ghosts are funny wakey waving inflatable tube ghost NPCs.”
- “Some of them are funny because they are vibrating in the corner, others because they are trying to be spooky but within the limitations of an animation rig.”
- “The player character doesn't take almost anything that's happening seriously and constantly throws out stupid, unfunny quips.”
stability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
83%
The game's stability is inconsistent, with many players experiencing significant bugs, including softlocks and a problematic final boss, while others report a mostly smooth and glitch-free experience. Overall, stability appears to be a common issue affecting gameplay enjoyment for some, though not universally.
- “The puzzles grew more frustrating the more you were confronted with them and it didn't help that after the second location the game starts to get more buggy.”
- “The general consensus on the community forums is that this game is really, really buggy, and I'm afraid I have to agree since loading a save has caused my game to become softlocked.”
- “I dropped the game because the final boss is buggy as hell.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding in the game is considered tedious and borderline boring, leading to long stretches of monotonous gameplay that detract from the overall experience.
- “Long stretches of the game are tedious and, dare I say, borderline boring at times.”
- “Overall: a boring, tedious game, 3/10.”
- “Even the Resident Evil series, which I love with all my heart, has fallen into a tedious dynamic with puzzles in the past, but that doesn't happen here.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users appreciated the emotional dynamics between characters and the protagonist's personal connection to the island's events, though some expected a deeper emotional experience overall.
- “I enjoyed the emotional dynamic between the characters, and the fact our character has a personal link to what's happening on the island.”
- “I was honestly expecting a more emotional experience.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers about 5 hours of gameplay with little to no replayability, making it less appealing at full price despite decent content. It is recommended more as a tentative purchase when on sale.
- “Tentative recommendation on sale, because there are roughly 5 hours of gameplay and zero replayability. The asking price is a bit steep, though what's in the game is decent enough.”